Indiana Supreme Court

When people turn on their cellphones, they have a general understanding that some data regarding their whereabouts will be
collected. But if a person does not know the extent to which that data is collected, then can the court say that such data
was voluntarily released by the person, or is there an expected right to privacy?

A majority of the justices of the Indiana Supreme Court found Tuesday that strict compliance with a state statute regarding
contempt orders can be excused if the party in contempt has been sufficiently notified of their contempt, thus affirming a
trial court decision requiring an ex-husband to produce income and tax documents for his ex-wife.

The Indiana Supreme Court has denied transfer of a case in which a father argued that the Department of Child Services’
failure to comply with the American with Disabilities Act when providing discretionary services should void the termination
of his parental rights. However, two justices dissented from that decision, writing that DCS should always be required to
comply with the ADA.

In oral arguments on a petition to transfer a case regarding a general contractor’s duty of care to its subcontractors,
the justices of the Indiana Supreme Court considered the meaning of the phrase “monitor and implement.”

Indiana’s rules regarding chemical breath tests can be read as a recipe, with each rule laid out for the process of
testing someone’s blood alcohol content meant to be followed sequentially, said the attorney for a woman challenging
her misdemeanor drunken-driving charges.

Although a police officer believed that a Hamilton County woman could have been injured after being stuck under her car, the
facts surrounding the situation did not lend themselves to an emergency situation that could justify the “warrantless
intrusion” of stopping the woman’s car after she drove away.

The justices of the Indiana Supreme Court are deciding whether to grant transfer in two cases related to the permissibility
of certain police officer actions after hearing arguments on petitions to transfer Tuesday.

The Indiana Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday on whether introducing an injured man's immigration status to a jury
in his lawsuit for future wages would be prejudicial enough to outweigh its probative value.

The Indiana Supreme Court left no doubt that it considered the Notre Dame Police Department exempt from the Access to Public
Records Act when it affirmed dismissal of ESPN’s lawsuit seeking records of the department’s interactions with
275 student athletes. But a bill signed into law this year dealing with access to police body cameras could change that.

Notre Dame Police are not a public agency, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Wednesday, turning back a lawsuit from ESPN that
sought records of the university police’s interactions with student athletes. The ruling means Indiana’s Access
to Public Records Act does not apply to university police at private institutions.

A southern Indiana church van driver who suspected children to be in need of services due to dangerous living conditions in
his small community followed the law requiring him to report his suspicions. He didn’t want to provide his name, but
he did so after a Department of Child Services hotline worker assured him his identity would remain confidential, as the law
also requires.

A state attorney argued before the Indiana Supreme Court Thursday that the Department of Child Services cannot be sued by
a man who reported suspected child abuse but whose promise of confidentiality was violated when his identity was disclosed
to those he reported.

After an Ohio man’s convictions of armed robbery in Dearborn County were overturned by a divided Indiana Court of Appeals
in August, the Indiana Supreme Court has agreed to hear the state’s appeal and decide if cellphone users have a reasonable
expectation to the privacy of their tracked location information.

Trial court orders and judgments in most non-confidential civil and criminal cases will be posted and universally available
online, but attorneys and parties to cases initially will have far greater access to filings than the public, according to
recommendations now open for public comment.

A state attorney argued before the Indiana Supreme Court Thursday that the Department of Child Services cannot be sued by
a man who reported suspected child abuse but whose promise of confidentiality was violated when his identity was disclosed
to those he reported.

An undocumented immigrant’s workplace injury — and how much he may be entitled to — has put the rising number
of foreign-born workers, the rights they can expect, and the responsibilities of employers squarely before the Indiana Supreme
Court.

The Indiana Supreme Court held Wednesday that a woman whose party guest died at her home after a drunken brawl could be considered
negligent because she did not seek care for the guest, but not on the basis of supplying alcohol to the men involved in the
fight.

After deciding that foreseeability in the context of duty in a negligence case is different than in the context of proximate
cause, the Indiana Supreme Court held Wednesday that a Grant County bar was not negligent in a shooting that injured three
people because the shooting was not foreseeable.